Gov. Robert Bentley spars with some ASU board members over forensic audit report

Gov. Robert Bentley speaks at an Alabama State University Board of Trustees meeting on Oct. 28, 2013 in Montgomery, Ala. (Mike Cason/mcason@al.com)

MONTGOMERY, Alabama --- Gov. Robert Bentley led a contentious meeting of the Alabama State University Board of Trustees this afternoon, with the governor and some of the trustees holding firm in their opposing views on a forensic audit report.

Bentley called the meeting to discuss the preliminary report released two weeks ago by Forensic Strategic Solutions Inc., which his office had hired after former university President Joseph Silver raised questions about contracts and other issues at ASU.

Speaking in a packed room, Bentley called on the trustees to “take their fiduciary responsibility seriously” and suggested that any board member who did not should resign.

But the trustees and attorney U.W. Clemon, hired by ASU to oversee the school’s work with the auditors, said the report was inaccurate, incomplete and released prematurely. ASU has filed a lawsuit against FSS.

Much of today's meeting was spent discussing a $1 million Medicaid contract with ASU to research and promote the use of technology by doctors. The FSS report was critical of ASU’s handling of the contract and its payment of more than $500,000 to a company to manage the contract, calling it an example of waste and lack of oversight.

ASU Executive Vice President John Knight told Bentley that the FSS report did not fully explain the Medicaid contract issue. Knight said the contractor paid by ASU, Carol Jacobs, was recommended to ASU by the Alabama Medicaid Agency, which was not disclosed in the report.

Bentley called on the trustees to study what happened with the Medicaid contract because it involved $1 million in taxpayer money.

Interim ASU President William Harris gave a report to the board that included a presentation from Clemon on ASU’s response to the FSS report. The ASU response is not yet finished.

Bentley initially said he did not want Clemon to give the update, saying he did not come to the meeting to listen to lawyers. But he later relented.

Clemon disputed the assertions of Bentley and FSS that the school had “stonewalled” by refusing to provide documents and make ASU employees available. Bentley and his chief legal advisor, David Byrne, maintained that ASU and Clemon did impede FSS in its work and failed to turn over documents that were public.

Much of the 36-page FSS report covered allegations of potential conflicts of interest involving two ASU board members and a former board member. Bentley said he did not want to discuss those at today’s meeting.

Clemon, however, addressed them and said FSS had misconstrued the law in making assertions about conflict of interest.

Trustee Marvin Wiggins called the FSS report “reckless” because of its assertions about potential conflicts of interest related to his relatives who had worked for ASU.

Aside from the FSS report, the governor and some trustees disagreed over whether the names of applicants for the ASU presidency should be public record.

Bentley maintained the names were public record, and Byrne cited attorney general’s opinions and a court ruling to support that.

Wiggins, who gave the board an update on the search, said the applicants’ names were not public record because the applications were sent to a law firm hired to help with the search, not the university.

Wiggins said the committee had reviewed 71 candidates and narrowed the list to 11. He said the committee hoped to narrow it further to three to five candidates at its next meeting early next month.

Bentley also presented a letter from faculty members expressing a vote of no confidence in the Board of Trustees and the interim president.

Harris said the letter was not from the faculty senate, but from an entity called the “executive committee,” and he said he did not know who that was.

At the request of a student, the board voted to add another student to the presidential search committee.